Writing Recipe for Success

It happens to every writer. At least once. We start a project, excited and inspired by the sparkly new idea. We run with it, fleshing out characters, working magic with dialog, setting, and plot. Then something happens. Our inspiration dissipates, like air from a hot air balloon. We’re slugging forward through molasses, when once we soared.

It’s easy to get discouraged, or possibly even give up on that great idea at this point. I’m here to tell you…

DO NOT GIVE UP!

Writing a novel is a lot like baking a cake. You carefully organize and mix the ingredients, select and prepare the pan, then put it in the oven to bake at the right temperature for the perfect amount of time. Unlike the cake, a creative oven requires our input for the heat, and the time it takes to fully bake is not always in our favor. Deadliness be damned. Unfortunately, half-baked is only half there.

The good news is that you got the story into the oven. Here’s a few strategies on how you can get it out…fully baked.

Turning Up the Heat

We get stuck in our writing for lots of reasons. The best way to get unstuck is to shake things up, take a new approach, do something totally different. The unexpected has a way of jump starting creativity. Here’s few suggestions:

Go someplace you’ve always wanted to, but haven’t. A change of scenery, especially a place that elicits intrigue, works wonders.

Watch A LOT of movies and TV shows. Joss Whedon would watch four or five movies in a row (in one day) to study story. You never know what will provide the boost you need for your story.

Read A LOT of different things, both magazines and books. Read outside your comfort zone. Change is good. Embrace it.

Talk to people who have cool jobs, or who’ve had very different life experiences than your own. This is one of the things Amie Kauffman, co-author of Illuminae and Gemina, does to get new ideas.

Go to a public place and people watch. Imagine where they’re going and what they’ll do when they get there. Have fun creating stories without the pressure of an outcome.

Start a totally different project in a completely different genre, just for you. Published authors confess to doing this when they’ve been paralyzed under a deadline. The story they started “for themselves” got them excited about writing again and they made their deadline. Those stories later became wildly popular books too. A win-win.

Brainstorm with other writers. Especially if you’re under deadline. Screenwriters work this way a lot.

The Myth of the Muse

Muse ~ a person, or personified force, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.

For centuries, there have been accounts of writers and artists who looked to muses to spark imagination and fuel creativity. I hate to throw shade on anyone’s creative process, but creativity and imagination are not something you can get from something or someone else. The truth is…

There’s No Magic Feather … or Genie

That’s the bad news. Nothing, and no one, can magically imbue you with creativity. Grow up. It’s just not going to happen.

In Stephen King‘s book, On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft, he says just that: “There’s no magic feather” that will make you a good writer (or artist). It takes a certain amount of innate talent combined with a serious amount of hard work.

The good news is, you don’t need anything outside of yourself to be amazingly creative. You have a vast storehouse of creativity inside you. You just have to know how to access the limitless supply of ideas and raw imagination.

It’s like having your very own Idea Store…inside your head. You just might have temporarily misplaced the key that unlocks the door. Studies of consciousness and the science of creativity (yes, it’s a thing) show there is a Fort-Knox treasure of creativity inside us…just waiting to be tapped.

Activating Your Inner Muse

It’s great knowing you have a wealth of creativity at your beck and call, but you have to know the number. Here’s a few ways to find yours.

Performing routine tasks, such as housework or walking, allow the mind to wander so creative ideas flow in.

Being painfully bored also opens the floodgates of creative thinking. For example, having to wait for long stretches of time, like long airplane flights without a book to read or waiting in line at the DMV.

Having a regular meditation practice has shown to improve creativity. Meditation helps slow down the mind, which in turn opens the creative centers of the brain.

At a recent YA (young adult) novel conference, a young writer asked the panel of published authors how they get their creative ideas. Here’s how a few of the authors responded:

Inspiration is Contagious

Why is inspired creativity important for writers? Because a writer’s emotions are woven throughout the tapestry of their stories. As Robert Frost said so succinctly:

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

When a story is infused with imagination, the reader is swept up in the fictional world and carried away. I think we’ve all had that magnificent feeling when reading a good book, becoming the characters and our real world drops away. That quality of writing can create a lifetime love of reading. And to me, that is an author’s true measure of success.

There is music in words. Listen to a conversation in a language you don’t understand and focus on the lyrical quality. When you aren’t distracted by what is being said, you hear the rhythm of the words and the melody in the tones.

Written words are musical as well. A story, in essence, is a symphony of syllables. Writers weave words into melodies, sentences that flow into passages, then swell into movements.

Writers hear the words as they are put onto the page, as if they being spoken. Their structural tempo evokes mood and conveys emotion. A character’s purpose and journey is intertwined with the melody. The author’s voice is the harmonic fabric that blends intertwining melodies into a vibrant whole.

Many writers find inspiration, and connect with the inner muse, through music. The proof is in the playlists they post on social media, different music for each story.

Read everything in your genre, then read widely in other genres. When you find an author whose style resonates with you, read everything they’ve written. Then read those books again. In the sheer act of reading and rereading their words, you absorb the rhythm of the prose, which miraculously transforms into your own unique voice.

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or tools to write. ~Stephen King

A writer’s voice isn’t a static. The quality of voice evolves as a writer hones and polishes their craft. It takes both reading and writing to discover your writing rhythm, your voice.

Making Music with Words

A story is a symphony of syllables, with possibilities as rich and varied as the imagination. The following excerpts are from books by remarkable authors, each with a unique voice.

Shiver
by Maggie Stiefvater: As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of themselves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air. That was what I loved, when I was human.

The Game of Love and Death
by Martha Brockenbrough: “If life didn’t end,” he [Love] said, “there would be no need for me. To choose love in the face of death is the ultimate act of courage. I am the joy, but you [Death] are the meaning. Together, we make humanity more than it otherwise might have been.”

The Beauty of Darkness
by Mary E. Pearson: The world flickered, pulling us into protective darkness, and I was in his arms again, our palms damp, searching, no lies, no kingdoms, nothing between us but our skin, his voice warm, fluid, like a golden sun, unfolding every tight thing within me, I will love you forever, no matter what happens.

Crenshaw
by Katherine Applegate: I noticed several weird things about the surfboarding cat. Thing number one: He as a surfboarding cat. Thing number two: He was wearing a T-shirt. It said CATS RULE, DOGS DROOL. Thing number three: He was holding a closed umbrella, like he was worried about getting wet. Which, when you think about it, is kind of not the point of surfing.

Truman Capote understood the music of words. For him, it was the joy of writing.

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music the words make.~Truman Capote

Einstein Nailed It

When I was in grade school, my parents went away for an hour and it felt like an entire day. Seriously. Later that same year when we went to Disneyland for the first time, one day felt like a minute.

Not unlike when we set our clocks forward an hour in the spring for Daylight Savings Time, and it feels like we lose four hours of sleep instead of just one. Yet when we set our clocks back an hour in the fall, the same hour feels like it’s cut in half. What’s up with that?

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in four words: Time is funny stuff.

The Perception of Time is Relative

We often perceive time as expanding or contracting based on our emotions, and our perception creates our reality. Authors have used this to their advantage for quite some time. Telling a story in real-time slows the pace down to focus on a character or story element, or maybe to build suspense. Writers have their ways of accelerating the pace to adjust perception and influence emotion too. Further proof that the pen, and the keyboard, are mightier than the sword. And quantum physics…apparently.

Manipulating fictional time, at its best, keeps readers turning the pages. I wrote a post on Time as a Story Element that discusses these techniques in greater detail, if you’re interested.

Lost Time: Timekeeper

What if time didn’t just expand and contract, but could actually be lost? As in disappear. Vanish. Just freaking gone.

An intriguing predicament that I hadn’t considered, until I picked up Timekeeper by Tara Sim. The first lines of this alternate Victorian era London run by clock towers cut to the chase:

Two o’clock was missing. Danny wanted it to be a joke. Hours didn’t just disappear.

But they can, and did, in a world where clock towers literally control time. When a clock tower breaks, so does time. And when a clock tower is destroyed, time stops completely. This clockpunk fantasy is infused with magic, woven through with myth, and spiced with mayhem. Danny, our hero, is a clock Mechanic charged with ensuring that time flows according to the natural order. The Mechanics inherit the job, because they can actually feel the strands of time and the weave of its fabric. The existential truths layered throughout the story provide satisfying believability and depth.

Time was everywhere and nowhere at once, making the moment last an eternity.

Stuck in Time: Groundhog Day

There is broken time, and then there is being stuck in time on infinite repeat. A post on fictional time and relativity just isn’t complete without a mention of one of my favorite movies: Groundhog Day.

Phil (Bill Murray), an egotistical curmudgeon of a weatherman, gets stuck living Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania over, and over, and over…until he finally gets it right. Which for him, takes some doing. I could go on and on and on about this movie, but you’ll enjoy watching the following trailer much more. May time forever flow in your favor.

Dialog molds characters into three-dimensions. What characters say, as well as what they don’t, reveals who they are. Dialog has the power to make a story and its characters memorable, whether in books, theater, film, or television. I shamelessly study any medium that’s raised the dialog bar. My current obsession interest is The West Wing.

The Magic of the Cutting Quip

I’m a little (?) late to the game on The West Wing (1999-2006). However, it is still in high demand on Netflix, which is a testament to its raise-the-bar quality.

The snappy dialog, and the aplomb with which it is delivered, hooked me in the first episode. Centered around the day-to-day happenings surrounding the President of the United States and his staff, The West Wing tackles serious topics without sinking into the morose. The sheer genius of the dialog and its delivery balanced intense drama with just-right humor, while revealing nuanced layers character traits.

Woman: Don’t play dumb with me.
Sam: I am dumb. Most of the time I’m playing smart.

Then there were the typos in the State of the Union Address. As a writer, I may find typosfunnier than most. But still. It’s The White House. Monumental decisions that affect millions of people go down there every day. So misspelled words in the State of the Union Address? Kind of (?) funny, if not a little embarrassing.

The following exchange happened during a read-through of the President’s State of the Union speech:

President: I’m proud to report our country’s stranger than it was a year ago?
Sam: Stronger. That’s a typo.
President: It could go either way.

Then later in the same episode:

First Lady: Why is hall#wed spelled with a pound sign in the middle of it?
President: I stopped asking those questions.

Dialog “Do’s” from The West Wing

Reveal personality quirks.Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and Donna Moss, his assistant, were arguing about her not checking his lunch order to make sure his hamburger was burned-to-a-crisp. Josh elaborates, “I like my hamburger so hard that if you drop it on the floor it breaks.”

Show character strengths.
Josh threatens to fire Donna when she pushes back on a request that’s obviously not important. To which she replies, “You’ve already fired me three times. I’m impervious.” Then she walks away, declaring “Impervious.”

Engender empathy in a character.An international incident is in play, the President suffered a medical emergency, the State of the Union Address is that evening, and everyone keeps asking him if he’s taking his medication. To ease his staff’s worry, President Bartlet responds with humor, “Is it possible I’m taking something called euthanasia?” Sam replies, “Echinacea.” The President smiles, “That sounds more like it.”

Lighten an intense scene.
Every episode of The West Wing uses witty banter to lighten intense scenes. Joss Whedon—creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer—said it best: “Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

Building Empathy

I’ve written about various facets of character development in the past, mostly in broad-stroke terms, such as quirky characters who dress like Buster Keaton. Such extreme character traits complement some stories. Other stories require a subtler approach. Developing empathy for a character comes from seeing their idiosyncrasies and flaws, which allows us to identify with them.

Let’s face it. No one can relate to a perfect person, because we all have shortcomings of some kind. Which is why a character’s weaknesses inspire empathy, and in turn cause us to fall in love with them. A tough, no-nonsense investigator who stress eats Ding Dongs (and other sweets) becomes instantly more likable.

Creating empathy is a lot like building trust, it happens over time as we get to know the real person from the inside out.

What “The Closer” Taught Me About Character

Research for writing fiction can cover a broad gamut, including watching television. And you wonder why I love this job?

I write for young readers, and initially started watching The Closer — a Warner Bros. Televsion adult crime drama — to analyze the mystery plot structure and well planned plot twists. The series had garnered more than a few Emmy nominations, and at least one win. I figured I could learn something from the writing. I was right in more ways than anticipated. The Closer showed me the power of everyday character idiosyncrasies as a method for building empathy.

For anyone who hasn’t seen The Closer, here’s the synopsis: The Closer is a police procedural series, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief. Brenda moved to Los Angeles from Georgia where she trained in the CIA, and gained a reputation as a Closer — a tough interrogator who solves cases and obtains confessions leading to convictions that “close” the case. Deputy Chief Johnson uses her femininity to disarm and distract, and at times resorts to deceit and intimidation to persuade suspects into confessing.

Brenda Johnson is an expert in her field, relentless and often intimidating. As perfect as she is when it comes to succeeding at her job, her foibles make her relatable and endearing. Here are a few of her characteristics that won me over and made me root for her:

She dresses feminine and understated like the Southern girl she is, rather than embodying the high-power-business-suit-chic of the other women at her job level.

She stress eats sweets, especially Ding Dongs, which she keeps stockpiled in her desk drawer.

As powerful as she is at work, she is unable to stand up to her father whenever he comes to visit.

She has episodes of disorganized absent-mindedness where she can’t find her phone and loses her purse. Hey, we’ve all been there.

Her single-minded focus that makes her so good at her job causes friction in her personal relationships — such as her FBI boyfriend (Jon Tenny) who she eventually marries.

She has trouble dealing with simple things in everyday life, like remembering the sex of the stray cat that comes with the house she buys. Brenda calls “Kitty” a “he” even after “she” has kittens. This drives Fritz, her then boyfriend, crazy.

She is relentless in her pursuit of a criminal, creating loopholes in the system to pursue justice, even when the victims were less than noble when alive.

She uses her Southern charm to get what she wants, always ending an unpleasant request with a sweet “Thank you so much” before anyone can object.

She stands behind the people on her team, protecting their jobs during budget cuts, and refusing to believe any one of them could be the cause of the information leak in her department.

Every member of the ensemble cast received their share of idiosyncrasies that endeared them to me as well. And the final season closed with all the necessary ingredients for a satisfying ending.

A great beginning keeps readers turning the pages. A great ending builds a fan base, because readers will be thinking about the book long after turning the last page. We’ve all experienced the satisfaction of a perfect ending to a book, movie, or television series. But what’s the secret?

What makes the ending of one story great, while another story’s ending leaves us unfulfilled?

The finale of the TV series WHITE COLLAR helped solve this mystery for me. The series ending was so perfect, I couldn’t help breaking it down, analyzing the elements that lead up to a culmination of satisfaction.

But first, an overview of the series for those who may not be familiar with the main characters and premise of the series.

White Collar ~ The Series

The third time turns out to be the charm for criminal Neal Caffrey. He has been eluding FBI agent Peter Burke for years, a run that finally comes to an end with his capture. But after the resourceful prisoner escapes from a maximum-security facility, then is nabbed once again by Burke, Caffrey suggests a different end-game: In return for freedom, he’ll help the Feds catch long-sought criminals. Though skeptical, Burke soon realizes that Caffrey’s instincts and insight are a rare commodity. Caffrey’s trusted friend and co-conspirator with ties to the criminal underworld, Mozzie, also becomes a useful source for Burke and the FBI. [Series Synopsis]

The series was well written with engaging characters and story lines, and plot threads with enough twists to keep the most agile guessing. Mozzie, Neil’s sidekick, added a delightful streak of rebellious quirkiness for comic relief.

Ingredients of a Great Ending

The promise of the premise for the story and the genre is paid off. The FBI promised Neil Caffrey his freedom if he was instrumental in helping them solve their toughest ‘white collar’ cases. To satisfy the promise for this genre, justice had to be served to this end. Neil does go free after making the ultimate sacrifice when pulling off a sting on a treacherous ring of international thieves.

The main character’s arc (Neil Caffrey) is completed in a believable fashion. Neil’s loyalty to Peter (as an FBI representative) and his wife Elizabeth becomes true, when he realizes his freedom ultimately threatens the lives of the couple and their unborn child. Neil also shows deep remorse when his actions hurt an innocent young woman he’s forced to befriend to bring down the thieves. For the first time he questions his life and the role he plays with the FBI. The completion of the character arcs for Peter and Elizabeth Burke, and of course, Mozzie, though less dramatic, are equally rewarding. It would take too long to explain them all here in detail. Trust me. Better yet, watch the series.

The main character earns the payoff, internally as well as externally. In the end, Neil overcomes his inability to trust Peter (as an FBI representative), and puts the safety and well-being of his friends before his own. To ensure their safety, Neil secretly masterminds the final phase of the sting. His selfless actions earn him his freedom and happiness.

There’s a significant sacrifice for the pay off. For Neil to earn his freedom (payoff), he made the ultimate sacrifice. He fakes his own death to ensure the lifelong safety of his friends—sparing them from retaliation by the gang members caught in the sting. Neil can never talk to or see the people who mean the most to him again. The ingenious method he uses to fake his death added to the overall satisfaction.

Enough is left to the imagination without leaving unanswered questions. Everything isn’t tied up neatly, leaving “what happens next” up to the audience’s imagination. In the final scenes, Peter Burke discovers clues leading to the storage locker Neil secretly rented during the initial planning of the sting. What Peter finds gives him insights into how Neil faked his death, thus assuaging his remorse over the loss of his friend. In the final shot, we see Neil strolling down a Parisian side street wearing his fedora, a satisfied smile on his face and a carefree spring in his step.

If you have an a Perfect ending Element to add to the list, Please do!

National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) is just around the corner—a yearly event in which writers commit to completing a 50,000 word (or more) novel during the month of November. One month. One book. Not a lot of time. So, time as a story element seems like an appropriate blog topic.

Stories unfold over a set interval of time. That’s a given. What I want to discuss is how different types of time can be used as story elements to set mood, further plot, and deepen character. [pc: morguefile.com]

Types of Time

There are four types of time that can be used to add atmosphere, set tone, and increase urgency in a story:

Clock time: Sets mood and creates suspense.

Calendar time: Creates a context for events, such as prom, homecoming, and graduation.

Seasonal time: Creates atmosphere, as well as providing a backdrop and reason for cultural events and activities.

Historical time: Establishes a context for social ideas, behaviors, and attitudes.

These elements can be combined, as you’ll see in the following examples.

Seasonal Atmosphere

Calendar and seasonal time are a natural combination. A season is technically three months long, allowing the story to unfold during time. Seasonal time can be used to set atmosphere and integrate events particular to the season to further the story. One great example is A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck. The story begins in the fall, with a Halloween outhouse scene that is laugh-out-loud hilarious, while also adding depth to the characters.

Seasonal events can also introduce urgency that influence characters’ actions. The movie Home Alone is a perfect example.

When a young boy is accidentally left behind at Christmas–while the family travels to Paris–he is forced to defend their house against burglars, with side-splittingly funny results.

Ticking-Clock ~ Urgency and/or Advocate

You don’t really know a person until you see how they react under extreme pressure. Which is why a ticking clock—a figurative pressure cooker—is a great way to reveal character strengths and flaws.

The ticking-clock can be combined with seasonal time. The Christmas party setting in the movie Die Hard is the perfect excuse for the entire company to be at the office headquarters at night with minimal security. It also provides a reason for NYC cop John McClane (Bruce Willis)–the estranged husband of a corporate VP, Holly McClane–to be visiting, so he can then take down the bad guys in badass style.

In the movie Back to the Future, time is both an advocate and adversary. Time is the vehicle (no pun intended) by which teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back into the past to alter the developmental paths of his parents to create a better future for the family. The ticking-clock is the electrical storm required for Marty to escape the past and get back to the future.

As the electrical storm gathers, Marty arrives at the clock tower as a falling branch disconnects the wire from the tower to the street. As Marty races the DeLorean toward the clock tower, Doc climbs across the clock to reconnect the cable. The lightning strikes, sending Marty back to 1985, but not before he sees Doc killed. Marty soon discovers Doc actually survived because of the bullet-proof vest he was wearing. Doc takes Marty home to 1985, then sets off for October 21, 2015 (Back to the Future Day!).

Historical Time

Historical time can define setting, social interactions, attitudes, laws, and mores. There are any number of terrific novels that transport the reader to a different historic time to experience life in another era. What I like about Margaret Haddix‘s Missing series, is the unique spin on historical fiction with a time travel twist.

In Found, the first book in the series, Haddix establishes the plausibility of time travel and the anticipation that the main characters are not who they think they are. In the second book, Sent, Chip, Alex, Jonah, and Katherine land in 1483 in the Tower of London where the imprisoned Edward and Richard fearfully await their fates. Chip and Alex soon realize that they are princes Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York–come back from the future. They watch history unfold, trying to save the princes without altering time in a way that would kill them anyway. This book is rich with accurate historical details that bring the setting and characters to life. It also poses a unique possibility regarding the actual fates of Edward and Richard.

Kidding … But Only Just

A while back I tweeted, “Fiction writing is a socially acceptable form of insanity.” I was only half-joking, and was surprised by how many people seemed to agree with me. Later I discovered that some famous authors gave credence to that view also.

J.K. Rowling said that she is “perfectly happy sitting alone in a room, making things up in her head all day.” We applaud her because she’s written stories many of us hold dear. If a non-writer type person made the same statement, we’d worry for them.

Keeping It Real

When fiction is done well, readers suspend disbelief, their world drops away, and the story becomes real…the characters, the setting, everything about the time and place. For an author to create a story that convincing, the world and characters have to become real for them as well. As Robert Frost said:

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

“If the author isn’t turned on when writing a love scene, the reader won’t be turned on either.”

The audience hooted, because it’s so true. If you don’t feel the spark when you’re writing a scene, the reader won’t feel it either.

The same standard of realness holds true for any art form, if it is to emotionally move its audience … whether it’s music, the visual or performing arts. To transmit a feeling through their work, the artist must delve into the emotion. One glance at the statue in this image, and it’s obvious the sculptor felt love on a deep, spiritual level. [PC: morguefile.com]

Reading ~ Socially Acceptable Psychosis

I came across the following description of reading and laughed out loud, because it’s a perfect match for psychosis:

…staring at marked slices of trees and hallucinating vividly for hours on end.

When fiction is done right, this is the effect is has on the reader. We become so fully engaged in the story…everything about it becomes real.

The reality a story creates doesn’t cease when a book is finished…for the reader or the writer. The story and its characters take on a life of their own. So much so, that many of us wish fictional characters Happy Birthday on social media (you know you do too, admit it).

Meg Cabot recently tweeted about actually googling the weather in Genovia (Princess Mia’s country). I love this. I can so totally relate, after having read the entire Princess Diaries series. This is fiction done right!

If you’re lucky, at least once in your life you meet a teacher who explains things in way that no one else could … and you finally “get it”. Blake Snyder was that teacher for me.

Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! books and Beat Sheet Workshops on story structure transformed my writing career. He helped hundreds of other writers–screenwriters and novelists alike. Yes, hundreds. The truth is you can have the most eloquent writing style on the planet, but without a compelling story you won’t engage readers.

Blake Snyder passed away on August 4, 2009, but his spirit lives on in the stories Save The Cat! continues to influence.

Why Save The Cat?

I rewrote my first novel three times, and still didn’t get the story right. Worse, I didn’t have a clue how to fix it. A little internet intervention changed all that.

Amazon recommended “Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need” based on past books I’d ordered about (real) cats. I’d never read a book on screenwriting, but since Save the Cat! was the last book I’d ever need, I thought, “Why not?”

Save the Cat! is the term Blake uses to describe the scene–usually early in a story–where the hero does something nice that makes us sympathize with him/her…like saving a cat.

Guidelines for story structure are a lot like the principles of music theory you’d follow to compose a song or symphony. Certain patterns are intrinsically more pleasant, they resonate deeper and are more satisfying.

Save The Cat! explains the basic story types, then breaks each story into the 15 beats (plot points) that will make it satisfying. Following these story sign posts allows me more creative license when it comes to the actual writing. Who knew?

The Transformation Machine

Blake often talked about The Transformation Machine in relation to the hero’s character arc. Every satisfying story is about change, and the Transformation Machine forces the hero to do just that. On the hero’s journey, two stories are told: the external/physical and the internal/emotional. As Blake Snyder put it…

All stories are about transformation. And seeing this as a good thing is the starting point of writing a successful story of any kind. Something has to happen, change has got to occur. That’s why the opening image (the snapshot of the world BEFORE) of a movie script has to be the opposite of the final image (the snapshot of the world AFTER.)

You can hear the Blake himself talk about the Transformation Machine in the following video clip:

Blake – the Pigeon – in “Bolt”

Blake Snyder and Jose Silerio worked as a team, consulting on a number of Hollywood A-List movies. BOLT, the feature animation by Walt Disney Pictures, was one of those films. The following scene is a testament to their contribution. Blake, the screenwriting pigeon, and his writing partner pitch their movie idea. When I saw BOLT in the theater, I almost jumped out of my seat and yelled, “I know Blake!” Simply priceless!